The Future of Farming

Summary

The video explores upcoming agricultural innovations crucial to feeding a projected global population of 10 billion by 2050. These advancements include autonomous robots for crop picking and weed control, drones and sensors for monitoring farms, vertical farms, and genetic modifications to enhance crop yields. Innovations in livestock farming, fish farming, and lab-grown meats are also highlighted as ways to increase protein production sustainably. As climate change and population growth create food challenges, these technologies offer potential solutions to improve efficiency, reduce environmental impact, and ensure global food security.

Takeaways

• 🌍 By 2050, the human population will reach nearly 10 billion, requiring a doubling of food production.
• 🤖 Technological innovations, such as autonomous robots, drones, and sensors, will revolutionize farm efficiency.
• 🍓 Autonomous pickers, like those developed in the UK, can gather crops such as strawberries faster than humans.
• 🌾 Robots can precisely target weeds with pesticides, reducing chemical usage by 90%, and organic farmers could use lasers to zap weeds.
• 📱 Farmers will be able to monitor crops using tiny sensors and smartphones, enabling them to detect issues or harvest times.
• 🛰️ Companies like PlanetLabs use CubeSats to capture weekly satellite images of entire farms for better crop management.
• 🏙️ Vertical farms, which grow crops in stacked indoor systems, are appearing in cities, though energy costs remain a challenge.
• 🐟 Sustainable aquaculture systems that mimic ocean conditions could allow for saltwater fish farming in landlocked areas.
• 🧬 Genetic modification technologies like CRISPR are being developed to increase crop yields and improve food security.
• 🌾 Researchers are working on the C4 Rice Project to enhance rice photosynthesis, aiming for a 50% increase in yield.

Q & A

What is the projected world population by 2050, and how does it affect food production?

The projected world population by 2050 is nearly 10 billion, which means we will need to double the amount of food we currently produce.

How has the number of agricultural workers changed from 1900 to today, and what does it indicate about agricultural efficiency?

In 1900, 10.9 million agricultural workers produced food for 76 million people, whereas today, just 6.5 million workers feed 321.4 million Americans. This indicates a significant increase in agricultural efficiency.

What are the two main factors responsible for the surge in agricultural productivity over the last century?

The two main factors responsible for the surge in agricultural productivity are engines and the widespread availability of electricity.

What is an autonomous picker and how does it improve efficiency in farming?

An autonomous picker is a machine that can gather crops like strawberries twice as fast as humans, potentially increasing the efficiency of harvesting.

How do robots or drones contribute to reducing the use of chemicals in farming?

Robots or drones can precisely remove weeds or apply targeted sprays of pesticide, using 90% less chemicals than conventional blanket sprayers.

What is the potential impact of using technology like lasers to control weeds on organic farms?

Using lasers to control weeds can significantly reduce the use of chemicals and help protect crop yields, as estimated by the UN, which states that pests and disease destroy between 20 and 40% of global crop yields annually.

How do tiny sensors and cameras aid in monitoring crop growth?

Tiny sensors and cameras monitor crop growth and can alert farmers on their smartphones if there's a problem or to notify them of the best time to harvest.

What is the BoniRob and what can it do?

The BoniRob is a device that can take a soil sample, liquidize it, and analyze its pH and phosphorous levels in real time.

How does Agribotix's software contribute to identifying unhealthy vegetation?

Agribotix's software analyzes drone-captured infrared images to spot unhealthy vegetation, alerting growers on their devices when a troubled area is identified.

What is the advantage of using CubeSats for monitoring crops?

CubeSats, operated by companies like PlanetLabs, take weekly images of entire farms from space, which helps monitor crops and provides a wider view for data collection.

What is vertical farming and what are the challenges associated with it?

Vertical farming involves growing crops in stacks of hydroponic systems in warehouses, especially in cities where land is scarce. The key challenge is the cost of energy and its environmental impact.

How does using blue and red light wavelengths in vertical farming optimize growth?

Using blue and red light wavelengths optimizes photosynthesis and can turbo-boost growth, as tested by researchers at project Growing Underground.

What is the 'food miles' issue and how does indoor farming with controlled climates aim to tackle it?

The 'food miles' issue refers to the unnecessary CO2 emissions created by shipping produce around the world. Indoor farming with controlled climates aims to recreate the perfect conditions for growing various crops locally, reducing the need for long-distance transportation.

How are advancements in livestock monitoring and management improving animal health and efficiency in farming?

Advancements include smart collars for cows that monitor health and fertility, thermal imaging for early detection of mastitis in dairy cows, and microphones above pig pens to detect coughs for earlier treatment.

What is the significance of the experimental fish farm developed by the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology?

The experimental fish farm is significant because it's a closed system that uses bacteria in different ways to mimic ocean conditions, allowing saltwater fish farms to be built inland without producing any waste.

How does genetic modification, such as CRISPR, contribute to increasing crop yields?

Genetic modification using techniques like CRISPR allows for precise editing of genes, which can lead to the development of crops that are more resistant to diseases, drought, and other environmental stresses, thus increasing yields.

What is the C4 Rice Project and what is its goal?

The C4 Rice Project is a global collaboration aiming to genetically engineer a new strain of rice that works more like maize in its photosynthetic process, potentially increasing its yield by 50%.

Outlines

00:00

🌾 Technological Revolution in Farming

The next two decades will witness significant technological advancements in farming, aimed at increasing efficiency to meet the demands of a growing population. By 2050, nearly 10 billion people will need twice the amount of food currently produced. Historical developments in agriculture, including engines and electricity, have drastically improved productivity, allowing fewer workers to feed a growing population. Innovations like autonomous pickers, targeted pesticide drones, and real-time soil sensors are on the horizon, promising to further enhance food production.

05:02

🤖 Smart Farming and Animal Health Monitoring

Technological advancements extend to the livestock sector, where smart collars for cows monitor health and fertility. Other innovations include cameras that detect infections in dairy cows, microphones identifying sick pigs, and systems tracking chicken behavior to spot problems early. Researchers are also focusing on aquaculture, with inland fish farms replicating ocean ecosystems. These farms are self-sustaining and waste-free, contributing to sustainable fish production, which has surpassed beef consumption. Additionally, bacteria-based fish food offers an environmentally friendly alternative.

10:05

🌱 Genetic Engineering and the Future of Crops

Genetic modification, driven by technologies like CRISPR, is transforming the future of agriculture. Precise gene editing helps address environmental adaptation and improve crop resilience. Projects such as AQUAmax and Artesian corn strains, as well as the NextGen Cassava project, aim to increase yields and improve food security. Global efforts, like the C4 Rice Project, seek to enhance photosynthesis and boost rice production. Genetic advancements are also applied to livestock, with innovations aimed at reducing diseases and increasing sustainability, crucial for doubling the global food supply.

Keywords

💡Autonomous Pickers

Autonomous pickers are robots designed to harvest crops without human intervention. These machines represent a technological leap in farming efficiency, gathering produce like strawberries at faster rates than human workers. The video highlights the challenge of developing pickers that can adapt to various types of crops, which is crucial for increasing food production to meet the demands of a growing population.

💡Vertical Farms

Vertical farms are indoor farming systems where crops are grown in stacked layers, typically using hydroponics. This method is particularly useful in urban areas with limited land availability. Vertical farms enable year-round cultivation by controlling lighting and climate, though they face challenges like high energy costs. The video discusses their potential in increasing food yield per square foot and questions their environmental impact.

💡CRISPR

CRISPR is a gene-editing technology that allows precise modifications to an organism's DNA. It plays a critical role in advancing agricultural efficiency by enabling crops to adapt better to environmental changes, improving yields. The video emphasizes CRISPR's role in making food production more sustainable and easing concerns over traditional GMOs, as it mimics natural mutation processes more closely.

💡Drought-Tolerant Crops

Drought-tolerant crops are genetically engineered to withstand periods of low water availability. These crops, such as the AQUAmax and Artesian corn strains developed by DuPont and Syngenta, are essential for maintaining high agricultural productivity in regions affected by climate change. The video highlights their role in sustaining food supplies as global water resources become increasingly strained.

💡Aquaculture

Aquaculture refers to the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish. The video mentions innovative techniques being developed to create closed ecosystems for inland saltwater fish farms, reducing the environmental impact of traditional fish farming. This approach is important for meeting the increasing demand for seafood without further depleting wild fish populations.

💡Farm Management Systems

Farm management systems are software platforms that help farmers monitor and manage their operations using data analytics. These systems process data from drones, satellites, and sensors to provide insights on crop health, soil conditions, and optimal harvesting times. The video illustrates how these systems are becoming crucial for farmers to handle the vast amounts of information generated by modern agricultural technology.

💡Insect Protein

Insect protein refers to the use of insects as a sustainable source of nutrition, either for direct human consumption or as animal feed. The video notes that insects are a low-cost, nutritious, and environmentally-friendly protein source, already consumed by 2 billion people worldwide. This concept is part of a broader movement to find alternative proteins to meet the growing global demand for meat.

💡Genetic Modification

Genetic modification involves altering the DNA of organisms to achieve desired traits, such as increased resistance to pests or higher yields. In the video, technologies like CRISPR and genome selection are highlighted as critical for the future of farming, helping crops like cassava and rice overcome limitations and improve global food security.

💡Machine Learning in Agriculture

Machine learning refers to the use of algorithms that improve over time by learning from data. In agriculture, machine learning is applied to analyze crop data, distinguish between crops and weeds, and predict potential issues before they occur. The video shows how this technology is being used to optimize farming processes, making them more efficient and reducing waste.

💡Closed-System Fish Farms

Closed-system fish farms are self-contained ecosystems that allow for fish farming without waste being released into the environment. The video features an example of a farm that uses bacteria to recycle waste and power the system, presenting it as a sustainable solution to the environmental issues traditionally associated with aquaculture. This innovation could help meet rising demand for fish while minimizing ecological impact.

Highlights

Technological advancements in farming will be critical by 2050, as the global population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion.

Farming productivity has significantly increased over the last century, with 6.5 million workers feeding over 321 million Americans, compared to 10.9 million feeding 76 million in 1900.

Autonomous robots like the strawberry picker and drones will revolutionize crop harvesting, significantly improving efficiency.

Robotic systems using targeted pesticide sprays could reduce chemical usage by 90%, helping with pest control while being environmentally friendly.

Sensors and cameras will monitor crops and alert farmers via smartphones about potential issues or optimal harvest times.

The BoniRob robot can take real-time soil samples and analyze key factors like pH and phosphorus levels, making soil health monitoring more efficient.

Farm management systems and analytics tools are being developed to help farmers process and act on vast amounts of agricultural data.

Vertical farming offers higher yields per square foot and can grow crops year-round in controlled environments, but energy costs remain a challenge.

Experimental projects like Growing Underground are optimizing photosynthesis using red and blue light wavelengths to boost growth in indoor farms.

Livestock technology includes smart collars for cows to monitor health and fertility, improving animal management and reducing disease.

Researchers are exploring the potential of fish farming in artificial ecosystems, eliminating waste while mimicking ocean conditions.

Protein-rich insects are being explored as a cost-effective, nutritious, and environmentally friendly food source for humans and livestock.

Lab-grown meat, while still in its early stages, offers a sustainable way to meet rising global meat demand with fewer resources.

CRISPR and other genetic modification technologies are transforming crop yields and resilience, addressing challenges like drought tolerance and pest resistance.

Collaborative global projects, such as the C4 Rice Project, aim to significantly increase rice yields by genetically enhancing its photosynthetic efficiency.

Transcripts

Over the next two decades, a technological wave will revolutionize the efficiency of

farms all over the world. It can’t come soon enough. By the year 2050 the human population

will be nearly 10 billion—which means we’ll need to have doubled the amount of food we

now produce.

This is an examination of the agricultural innovations coming down the pipeline that

will help get us there.

The industry has undergone major developments over the last century. 100 years ago, farming

looked like this. Today, it looks like this. And tomorrow, it will look something like

this. These changes have allowed many of us to do other things with our lives. In 1900,

10.9 million agricultural workers produced the food for 76 million people. Today, just

6.5 million workers feed 321.4 million Americans.

Two factors were most responsible for this surge in productivity: engines and the widespread

availability of electricity.

Today, the innovations on our immediate horizon include autonomous pickers—UK researchers

have already created one that gathers strawberries twice as fast as humans, the challenge will

be creating robotic pickers that can switch between all kinds of crops;

Robots or drones that can precisely remove weeds or shoot them with a targeted spritz

of pesticide, using 90% less chemicals than a conventional blanket sprayer.

For the organic farmer, they could zap the weeds with a laser instead. This could have

a big impact, the UN estimates that each year, between 20 and 40% of global crop yields are

destroyed by pests and disease. Tiny sensors and cameras will monitor crop

growth and alert farmers on their smartphones if there’s a problem, or when it’s the

best time to harvest; The BoniRob can take a soil sample, liquidize

it, then analyze its pH and phosphorous levels—all in real time;

As a proof-of-concept for all this autonomous farming technology, researchers at Harper

Adams in the UK plan to grow and harvest an entire hectare of Barley without humans ever

entering the field. Companies like Agribotix have already commercialized

software that analyzes drone-captured infrared images to spot unhealthy vegetation. Then,

like a real life game of “Sim-Farmer,” the grower is alerted on their device when

a troubled area is identified. Machine learning will regularly improve the system’s ability

to differentiate between varieties of crops and the weeds that threaten them.

Not to be left out, a company called Mavrx contracts 100 pilots to fly light-aircraft

that are outfitted with multispectral cameras on data-gathering missions over large farms

throughout the country; For an even wider view, PlanetLabs operates

a fleet of CubeSats that take weekly images of entire farms from space to help monitor

crops; Other companies are creating analytics software

to act as farm-management systems, allowing growers of all sizes to deal with this new

tsunami of data; And The Farmer’s Business Network combines

data from many farms into one giant pool to give its members the power of macro-level

insights that have traditionally only been available to corporate mega-farms;

Vertical farms are essentially warehouses with stacks of hydroponic systems to grow

leafy greens. They’re sprouting up in cities all over the world where fresh produce — and

land — is scarce. The key obstacle here is the cost of energy, and the toll using

a lot of it takes on the environment. The upside is that artificial lights and climate

controlled buildings allow crops to grow day and night, year-round, producing a significantly

higher yield per square foot than an outdoor farm. For now though, only expensive, leafy

greens like lettuce — or herbs like basil — have proven profitable in the vertical

system. And the jury is definitely still out on whether this is truly and environmentally-friendly

technique; One possible solution is to use blue and red

light wavelengths to optimize photosynthesis and turbo-boost growth—a technique tested

by researchers at project Growing Underground, an experimental farm operating in old World

War II bomb shelters underneath London; Another advancement in indoor farming is the

Open Agriculture Initiative, which aims to create a “catalogue of climates” so temperature

and humidity can be set to recreate the perfect conditions for growing crops that would normally

come from all over the world, locally instead. This is an attempt to tackle the “food miles”

issue. When produce is shipped around the world it creates unnecessary CO2 emissions.

Just look at a where a few of the items you eat today were cultivated to understand how

big of a problem this is. The millions of people entering the middle

class every year in developing countries are demanding tens of millions of pounds of additional

meat. These ideas aim to get the most from every animal.

Who would’ve thought Fitbits could be for livestock too? Cows are being fitted with

smart collars that monitor if they’re sick or, if they’re moving around more, which

is a sign of fertility; Researchers at Scotland’s Rural College

are analyzing cow breath. Exhaled ketones and sulfides reveal potential problems with

an animal’s diet; Thermal imaging cameras spot inflamed udders

to provide earlier treatment to combat a bacterial infection known as mastitis, one of the costliest

setbacks in the dairy industry; 3-D cameras that quickly measure the weight

and muscle mass of cattle so they’re sold at their beefiest;

Companies have even begun positioning microphones above pig pens to detect caughs, giving sick

animals the treatment they need a full 12 days earlier than before. Less antibiotics

are used if fewer animals become ill for shorter lengths of time;

And a system of just three cameras, developed by researchers in Belgium, tracks the movements

of thousands of chickens to analyze their behavior and spot over 90% of possible problems;

Here’s a stat that I found eye-opening: consumption of farmed fish has now surpassed

our consumption of beef. Researchers are working to increase the types of fish that are raised.

Aquaculturists at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore

are developing an artificial ecosystem that mimics ocean conditions so that saltwater

fish farms can be built inland. This would allow millions of landlocked people to be

able to enjoy fresh fish, instead of consuming frozen fish grown or caught on the coast that

have to be shipped thousands of miles in refrigerated trucks that use a lot of energy.

The most exciting thing about this experimental fish farm is that it’s actually a closed

system that creatively uses three sets of bacteria in different ways to so it doesn’t

produce any waste and even powers itself. [Dr. Yonathan Zohar]: “This is the world’s

most sustainably produced fish. The system is completely and fully contained. There is

zero interaction with the environment. There is no waste. Zero waste goes back to the environment,

which is the big problem with aquaculture today.”

This revolutionary technique could be critical for saving species in the wild, like rapidly

depleting bluefin tuna populations, without curbing the appetites of sushi lovers like

me;

Another ingenious approach from a company in California are proteinaceous fish food

pellets made from the bodies of a bacteria that grow by consuming a combination of methane,

oxygen, and nitrogen.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 2 billion people consume insects

as part of their diet.

[Insect eater]: “I eat insects like this because they provide nutrition. The nourish

the body, they are not too fatty but have lots of good ingredients. If you eat these

all the time, you will get sick very rarely.”

Bugs are among the cheapest, most nutritious, environmentally-friendly sources of protein.

So there’s a growing movement to find new ways to incorporate them into food products

that can be marketed in a way that doesn’t gross people out.

Some examples are protein powder and insect flour. But even if insects never make it onto

many of our plates, they can still help us a lot as animal feed;

On the other end of the alternative protein spectrum is lab grown meat. In 2013 the first

hamburger was made from muscle cells grown in a lab in the Netherlands, followed by a

meatball grown by a California company called Memphis Meats. These grabbed headlines, but

production costs need to come way down before we’ll be buying synthetic meats in significant

quantities.

[Dr. Mark Post]: “So it’s better for the environment. And we need much less resources

to actually produce it so that we can produce much more meat with much less resources so

that we can feed the entire planet. And we’ll probably look back at this time as sort of

barbaric, that we still killed animals and used animals to such a degree for our meat

consumption.”

Human survival on earth has, by necessity, driven us to use--and change--the world around

us. Some of our most powerful innovations are aimed at solving problems we ourselves

create. As climate patterns change and human population rises, the prospect of a global

food shortage becomes increasingly dire--it’s a threat that even the deployment of millions

of autonomous farmer-bots would be unlikely to solve. But where man-made machines may

fall short, bacterial machines may very well prevail...bringing me to the technology that

can continue to deliver the biggest increases in crop yield: genetic modification. Scientific

breakthroughs like CRISPR, genomic selection, and SNP’s now allow single letters within

a gene to be precisely edited. Unlike older methods of genetic manipulation, like transgenic

modifications that made uncontrolled alterations to large regions of DNA,

CRISPR — a gene editing system repurposed from bacteria — more closely mimics the

process of random mutation. This process is critical for environmental adaptation, Darwinian

natural selection, and — ultimately — evolution. While this fact alone may not placate the

most passionate anti-GMO advocate, highly precise techniques, like CRISPR should help

ease the legitimate health and environmental concerns that have thus far curbed significant

commercial investments. But not everyone is sitting on the sidelines.

Two large agricultural companies, DuPont and Syngenta, have used genome selection to develop

two new, drought-tolerant strains of corn called AQUAmax and Artesian.

Then there’s the NextGen Cassava project led by Cornell University, in partnership

with research institutes all over Africa, that aims to “significantly increase the

rate of genetic improvement in cassava breeding to unlock the full potential of this staple

crop that’s central to food security and livelihoods across Africa.”

Genetically improving the cultivation of other crops that haven’t been modified yet could

additionally lead to huge yield increases for millet and yams, for example;

Rice, one of the world’s most important crops, has seen its yield plateau—meaning

that, for years now, the maximum amount that can be grow on, say, an acre of land has not

increased. The C4 Rice Project — a massive global collaboration

between 18 biology labs spread across four continents — is trying to change that. Their

goal is to genetically engineer a new strain of rice so that its photosynthetic process

works more like maize, which would — theoretically — turbo boost its yield by 50%.

And, of course, it’s not just crops, pig lines are being altered to make them immune

to an illness that costs American farmers $600m a year.

While it is hard to predict which of these developments will have the greatest impact

on food production, we should be pursuing all of them. The use of genetic technologies

will, inevitably, prove essential for tackling what would likely be an insurmountable challenge,

sustainably doubling our global food supply. The good news is that some of the world’s

most creative scientists, engineers, farmers, and innovators are working on solutions for

this problem, even as you watch this video.

This piece was based on articles that recently appeared in the The Economist and the journal

Nature.

And our recent video on India’s highway megaproject led some of you to suggest other

projects for us to look into. Your suggestions for video topics are always appreciated.

Thanks for watching. Until next time, for TDC, I’m Bryce Plank.